Diethylstilbestrol (DES)

Diethylstilbestrol (DES), nonsteroidal synthethic estrogen used as a drug and formerly used to promote growth of livestock. Unlike natural estrogens, DES remains active following oral administration. It is also administered as vaginal suppositories and by injection. DES breaks down more slowly in the body than do the natural estrogens.

DES is used therapeutically to replace estrogen during menopause, to relieve painful menstrual periods (dysmenorrhea), to stimulate the development of secondary sexual characteristics in women with nonfunctioning ovaries, and to palliate advanced breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

Beginning in the 1940s and continuing for more than 20 years, DES was frequently prescribed to pregnant women to prevent miscarriages. In 1971 investigators demonstrated statistically that daughters of women taking DES had abnormally high rates of an otherwise rare form of cervicovaginal cancer. The use of DES and other estrogens during pregnancy is now proscribed in many countries.

Until the 1970s it was common practice to stimulate the fattening of beef cattle and chickens by mixing small amounts of DES into the feed or by implanting pellets of DES under the skin in the ears of the animals. Concern over trace amounts of the hormone in meat led to bans on the use of DES as a livestock growth stimulant beginning in the early 1970s.

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...in transmitting signals that trigger cell division. Some of the most-powerful promoting agents are hormones, which stimulate the replication of cells in target organs. Prolonged use of the hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES) has been implicated in the production of postmenopausal endometrial carcinoma, and it is known to cause vaginal cancer in young women who were exposed to the hormone while in...

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a drug used primarily from the 1940s to the ’50s to prevent miscarriage. The drug is an example of a chemical that can produce transplacental carcinogenesis. It was discovered in the early 1970s that exposures to diethylstilbestrol before the ninth week of gestation could lead to the formation of rare vaginal and cervical cancers in female progenies.

...to 1.4 kilograms) of crude protein, according to their weight and stage of fattening. Up until the early 1970s, when the practice was prohibited, fattening cattle were given the synthetic hormone diethylstilbestrol as a supplement in their feed or in ear implants. The use of this synthetic hormone results in a 10 to 20 percent increase in daily gain with less feed required per pound of gain....

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(diethylstilbestrol), a nonsteroidal synthetic estrogen; once prescribed for some women during pregnancy to prevent miscarriages; banned for such use when discovered that daughters born to mothers who took this drug had abnormally high rates of cervicovaginal cancer; also discontinued for promoting growth in livestock because of concern over trace amounts of it in meat; used therapeutically to replace estrogen during menopause, to relieve painful menstrual periods, to stimulate development of secondary sexual characteristics in women with nonfunctioning ovaries, and to prevent conception after rape or incest.